October 21, 2010

CONNECTICUT JUDGE: ALLEGATIONS AGAINST PRIEST CREDIBLE

A judge has found strong evidence to support allegations by a man that he was sexually abused by a Roman Catholic priest in the 1980s and issued a $10 million attachment of the priest's assets while the case heads to a jury.

William Dotson, 34, made the allegations against the Rev. Stephen Bzdyra (BIZ'-der-ah), who was pastor of St. Augustine Church in Seymour, in a civil lawsuit in July. The Associated Press generally does not name victims of sexual assault, but Dotson's attorney, Joel Faxon, said his client wanted to come forward.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Robert Berdon, who conducted a hearing in New Haven Superior Court, ruled Wednesday that Dotson's testimony was "credible and overwhelming." He said another witness testified in the same hearing that Bzdyra sexually abused him when he was a boy and said a psychologist who evaluated Dotson concluded he was sexually abused.
Faxon welcomed the ruling and said the priest should be immediately defrocked. He said such rulings are unusual in priest sexual abuse cases.

Bzdyra's attorney, Hugh Keefe, said such hearings involve a low standard of proof and the priest has few assets to attach. Keefe has denied the allegations against Bzdyra, who was placed on administrative leave until the allegations are proved or disproved.

"Mr. Faxon needs to familiarize himself with the Bill of Rights and the presumption of innocence," Keefe said.

Maria Zone, director of communications for the Archdiocese of Hartford, said she could not comment because the case has not gone to trial and is pending.

The lawsuit alleged Bzdyra whipped and raped Dotson, an altar boy, after catechism class when he was 10 and molested him repeatedly in the rectory and church where Bzdyra served at the time. It accuses the priest of paying hush money, such as buying Dotson a washer and dryer and a car, and threatening to report Dotson's mother to the welfare department for having too many jobs if he revealed the abuse, saying Dotson would be taken away from his family.

The lawsuit names Bzdyra and the archdiocese. It says church officials failed to prevent the abuse.